Last year, my firm launched an ambitious index for tracking the stocks of global consumer-marketplace companies—enterprises that connect buyers and se…
Marketplaces
A collection of insights around the trends in consumer marketplaces.
Online Universities, MOOCs and More . . . What’s Next in Ed Tech?
It’s clear that education in the U.S. is still in dire straits. We spend more than most other developed countries on education, yet our students have …
Bringing the Benefits of Athletics to More Kids—Through Esports
Over 40 million players from 200 countries participated in the event–drawing 19,000 fans to a sold-out stadium in New York City over the course …
The Six Factors You Should Obsess Over When Building a Marketplace Business
Consumer marketplace companies are hot—just look at all the ink being spilled on the recent IPOs of Uber and Lyft and the expected, upcoming listing o…
The Magic Under the Hood: Niantic, Harry Potter and the “Real-World Platform”
There is plenty of magic in the much-anticipated Harry Potter: Wizards Unite augmented reality (AR) game, which was publicly released today by Niantic…
Amazon’s One-Two Punch: How Traditional Retailers Can Fight Back
If you think physical retail is dead, you couldn’t be more wrong. Despite the explosion in e-commerce, we’re still buying plenty of stuff in offline s…
You Can’t Live Without Marketplaces—So We’re Introducing the Battery Marketplace Index
Can you imagine life today without online, consumer marketplaces? For most people, at least those living in cities and suburbs, the answer is probably…
AirBnB Acquires Last-Minute Hotel Booking App HotelTonight: A Look Back at HotelTonight’s Early Days
On March 7, 2019, Airbnb announced its agreement to acquire HotelTonight*, a hotel-booking service focused on making last-minute trips easy and fun by…
Gaming is Eating Media… and Pokemon is Just the Start
“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!” ― Benjamin Franklin The phrase “software eating the world” is a co…
The Hype Around a New Model for Trust—in Sneakers
“Hip hop used to be a niche music market—now it’s pop music. The same is happening with sneakers and streetwear.” – Alex Benik, Battery Ventures Partn…